Art Anderson

The Star Spangled Banner.....Old Red, White, and Blue: Past enemies had to learn that the US never backs down (at least not for long!). those who would attack us still have that lesson to learn: These colors we cherish, the Red, The White, The Blue--"Old Glory", the "Stars and Stripes"----these colors NEVER run! Art

I remember..... Waking up to bright sunlight streaming in my front window, clear blue Indiana sky outside.......fixing a Diet Coke (my principal source of caffiene).....logging the puter on to AOL (Dialup days still)......seeing the news flash about "a commuter plane" crashing into one of the WTC towers....nothing more......took a shower......walked down the street to get a haircut........barber had the TV on--CNN showing first tower burning..........news flash about an explosion being reported at the Pentagon......news anchors still trying to sort things out, trying to make some sense of what was happening before our very eyes.....paid the barber....walked across the street to the liquor store for a pack of smokes....got in car, radio on, news all over the place, but still not sorted it all out yet.....wrestled with my 1/5 mile commute across downtown Lafayette (why can't they get the olf RR crossings pulled up when I don't have to be held up with all the traffic jam!......becoming aware, as I drove the Levee Area in West Lafayette, waiting interminably at the stoplight there.....wondering WHY I was seeing a solid stream of airplanes coming into Purdue University Airport....WAIT, Notre Dame football game isn't till Saturday, this is only Tuesday!......shocked at seeing a Boeing 747 coming in off to my left, gear down--yeah, Purdue does have a runway big enough....mixed with everything from Cessna's, biz jets--plane after plane after plane.....walking into Purdue Memorial Union Building, my mind on the day ahead--did our food and bread deliveries come, were my openers ready to do battle with the day?.......standing back in the loading dock, when someone came rushing in from the TV lounge crying that one of the Towers had collapsed....I'm saying "What? the top few floors?......."No, the whole tower is gone, all the way to the ground!"........walking up to the lounge, just in time to see the video of the second plane hitting the second tower (Wait a minute? Since when did Irwin Allen make another "Towering Inferno/Airport" disaster film--so surreal........Becoming aware that I was surrounded by almost a hundred international students (the University had nearly 5000 students from countries all over the world......seeing the absolute horror, the real terror in their eyes--they were in my country, this is the USA, where things are safe! Right?........somehow navigating through the lunch hour, not many were interested in getting much to eat.......around 3pm, seeing a US Army Reserve fuel tanker going by on the street out front, with police escort--what was going on? (later finding that it was jet fuel, trucked in from Grissom Reserve AFB, up at Peru IN.......consoling a pair of international student employees at Pappy's Sweet Shop there, brother and sister, really cool kids, from Jordan, she in tears, of fear, sorrow, terror.......stopping each and every one of my international student employees coming in to work, urging them to call their families back home as soon as possible, let them know they were safe here.......assuring a muslim student that I held no grudge against him or any others of his faith.....by then hearing that Al Queda was responsible for all this tragic day.......finally, about 7pm, walking out into the clear air, sun lower in the west....suddenly realizing that this was a classroom day--where were all the student pilots (Purdue is where the Hero of the Hudson, Chesley Sullenberger, learned to fly) doing their afternoon "touch & go's"?....oh that's right, the FAA and Military closed all US Airspace to anything other than military flights..........and almost at that realization, the thunder of a pair of F-15's over my head, landing at Purdue to refuel, perhaps grab a quick sandwich or something....then about 40 minutes later, the roar of their afterburners as they took off once more, back to patrolling the skies over NW Indiana.........watching, barely tasting a sandwich, watching the news, as stories flooded in, not only from New York City, Washington, and rural Pennsylvania AND from the capitals of countries all around the World....still trying to make some sense of it all, the how, the why of it all. The rest of that week is simply a blur.....until Friday, September 14, when at 10am, President Jischke stood up in front of nearly 6000 in Elliott Hall of Music (I was watching, with a couple thousand more, there in the Union Building, closed circuit TV tuned in ALL OVER CAMPUS--it seemed as though every one of the nearly 40,000 students, their professors, teaching assistants, professional/clerical/service staff); the entire campus fell silent as we watched a moving, emotional memorial service for all those whom we knew by then would never again walk through their front doors to spouse and family again.......being moved to uncontrollable tears hearing the University orchestra and all the vocal groups at Purdue, lead the entire campus in a heartfelt, very emotional Star Spangled Banner.......and wondering, as I excused myself to go out into the courtyard to pull my thoughts back together again, if the World I had come to know would EVER recover, yet knowing that it would, but it would never again be the same. As a child in the 50's, I grew used to adults relating where they were, what they were doing, on the afternoon of Sunday December 7, 1941 as the news of the attack on Pearl Harbor flooded all over them.....and somewhere that weekend, it dawned on me, this was my generation's (and all those old enough to be aware) "Pearl Harbor", a week that forever will mark all of us who lived through that, regardless of our being 989 miles WSW of the Island of Manhattan, in that place called New York City. In many ways, I think we all became "citizens of New York City' on 9/11/01, but what a sad honor that was then, and still is. New York City, Pentagon, Flight 93, you will never be forgotten! But in the end, it became clear to me that all would be well, God was still in heaven. That weekend, young country music sensation Billy Gilman appeared (as previously scheduled) on Larry King Live--his song that night? "God is alive and well". Thinking of all my friends in New York and the Pentagon who lived through that day, and thinking of all who perished, and of course, all those left behind....... Arthur Anderson

AMT (Alumnum Model Toys--the original company name) made just one cast aluminum toy/model car, that being their first promotional model, the 1947 Ford Tudor Sedan. Starting in 1949, AMT went to Tenite (acetate plastic) for promotional model cars, but used diecast grilles and bumpers out through 1956, that were "flash plated" with chromium or nickel. Art

In all this, it might be wise to understand the story of IPMS: The International Plastic Modeler's Society started in the UK about 1960---modelers who built plastic scale model airplanes, choosing the name to show that they were building museum-quality models from the simple, plastic model kits then seen as primarily a kids' thing, as opposed to the balsa & tissue (and larger) flying model aircraft. This was the initial thrust of IPMS/USA, one of whose founders was a woman from here in Lafayette, whom I knew very well. The organization was exclusively plastic model aircraft through nearly all the 1960's, until they voted to allow plastic models of military vehicles, both armored, and soft-skinned. Next came the "figure modelers", those who were painting and detailing the highly detailed soft white-metal historic military figures then very popular. Naval ships came next in the early 1970's--and all along, there were often heated debates as to whether or not IPMS was losing its original focus--some early members, those who were aircraft builders, even left in anger over what they saw as a "dilution" of their hobby, THEIR organization. (Sounds almost like some of the heated arguments that have been heard at contests, even within the pages of this, and other model car forums online, when one thinks about it!). By about 1975, IPMS/USA started to recognize the model car hobby, by then seeing an increasing number of adult builders, in what was still viewed by many, if not most, in the industry as primarily a hobby for the 10-16yr old kid crowd. That "acceptance" was not universal--even though a model club might be a chapter of IPMS/USA, chapters are very free to be focused on what their members see as what "plastic model building" should be, and what the individual memberships want to zero in on (again, doesn't this sound like many a purely model car club even to this very day?) Even in our world of hobbies, there are similar prejudices, sometimes the same sort of "selective" thinking: I used to write and print the monthly newsletter for Lafayette Miniature Car Club here. In doing so, I used to write a short editorial for each issue (and several of our members contributed their editorial thoughts as well over the years). We mailed our newsletter to other clubs around, and a copy went to the magazines in the hobby, including this one. One editorial I wrote talked about the need to respect all subject areas of model car and truck building, in particular the concept of "replica stock"--which I felt at the time was an often overlooked, "unsung" area of our hobby. Gregg picked up on that, contacted me for permission to use that short "editorial" in an early issue of Model Cars Magazine--perhaps some here remember that. It's easy to see, I think, where modelers' preferences show vividly--for all the fun of an NNL, in the end, the recognition of "Best In Show" is almost always a "People's Choice" award--the model garnering the most votes becomes the winner. Nothing wrong with that, per se', but it does show me that some of the very same sort of "focus" for which some denigrate IPMS chapters and members exists in our own ranks. It's a "majority" kind of thing, here in Model Car Land, just as it is in the world of scale model "Warmongers" (and I've heard that term thrown at IPMS/USA for more years than I care to think anymore). IPMS/USA doesn't really deserve all the criticism that I see and read still about these sorts of things. As far back as July 1985, when the IPMS National Convention was hosted by the Roscoe Turner Chapter in Indianapolis--model cars, by sheer numbers, were a very close second in importance to aircraft (still the largest interest grouping within IPMS), and for the first time, a MODEL CAR (Randy Derr's fantastically built and detailed TransAm Camaro) was awarded "Best Of Show"--and model cars faired very well in other contest-wide categories (I still treasure the plaque awarded my 1962 AJ Watson USAC Dirt Track Championship Race Car as "Best Scratchbuilt"), and so it goes. Not always will a model car win, and as with any contest in the Model Car side of things, not always will all entrants go away thinking that "The Best Car Won"--that's a fact of any and all scale model contests, across the board, from HO trains to whatever subject area one wishes to think about. In the end, though, we can all walk away from any contest, be it in some little podunk crossroads, or in the midst of some great metropolis, hopefully still glad to be alive, still savoring the memories of the event--new acquaintances met, old friends coming together once again--lots of models seen, a bunch of "bench-racing", and hopefully more new and challenging ideas and concepts that none of us had ever before even considered. And, of course, most all of us come at the hobby with a philosophy pretty much like Popeye: "I builds what I likes and I likes what I build!"--pure objectivity in any sort of craftsman, artistic endeavor is a pretty thing to talk about, to advocate, but I submit almost impossible to meet, by anyone --our subjectivity always creeps in just a little bit. OK, nuff said. Art

That looks to be a "diaphragm" type air compressor, the same type (but different appearance) that Binks, Badger, and Paasche still sell today. It works for airbrushing ,but doesn't have positive displacement (piston) that would allow it to fill a bike tire. Art

Back in the 60's, when AMT and Revell put things like V8 crankshafts in a few of their kits, a couple of guys here did work up V8's with at least moveable pistons, turn the crankshaft, the pistons moved up and down and in sync as well. They used K&S aluminum tubing for the cylinder bores IIRC. Art

Definitely a learning curve, and not an inexpensive one at that. For starters, unless that kit is worth more than say, $150, it would not be cost effective to try and copy it in resin--due to the expensive nature of both urethane resin and the silicone RTV rubber needed for molds. Additionally, you would necessarily goe through a "learning curve" with something as complex in shape as a body shell--most likely, your first piece ever done won't be as good as the original (experienced resin-casters can, and do, achieve that result) until you've experienced the making of several castings. A better alternative might be to scope out the various resin-casters, see if someone hasn't already repopped this kit (it would be helpful if we knew what the kit in question here is!). Art

Solder does come in 1/8", which decimals out to .125". Now 1/25th scale is .040" to the inch, so .125" scales out to 3 1/8 inches. If you can find it, pure tin solder, in 1/8", bends as readily as the common lead/tin stuff, but being stiffer, holds its shape a lot better! Art

The I-slab Indianapolis to Denver is Interstate 70, which goes through St Louis, and Kansas City Missouri, then across the wheat barrens to Denver. Check online for hobby shops in St Louis, Columbia, Kansas City area. Art

Nope, I knew about it already. Art

Finally, the instruction sheet! Now, this is the way an instruction sheet should look, IMHO! And, just in case you need to know the factory correct colors--the last two pages of the instruction sheet give you all the info you need! Now, to get this puppy built! Art

Wait! There's more!

And, continuing!

Continuing right along:

Just kidding! Seriously though, I just unpacked a Priority Mail package--PRODUCTION KIT OF THE MOEBIUS '53 HUDSON HORNET. Without any further ado, pics of the kit: More to follow!

Except that the real Ala Kart had the smaller 241cid Dodge Red Ram Hemi (Dodge offered that engine 1955-58), which is a fair bit smaller in outside dimensions than the old Chrysler 331/354/392 Hemi.

Not unless there is a tire from one of the Heller kits of the same era that might fit?

Paint types: Enamels Essentially, enamel paints are varnish with pigment. These generally come thinned with petroleum distillates which evaporate slowly, leaving behind the resins in the carrier, mixed with pigments. Enamels tend not to shrink markedly upon drying, so they can build up in thickness quickly on a model surface. Acrylics By this, I suspect you mean water-based flat finish paints such as Polly S. This type of paint stems from the waterbased latex paints introduced for painting houses inside and out about 60-yrs ago, then the concept became available in artists colors, finally in paints for models. This type of paint uses water, and a type of alcohol for reducing, and dries flat, but is very humidity. Because this is water-borne paint, the higher the humidity, the slower the drying time. Lacquers are one of the oldest forms of finishes, starting with shellac, then being made by dissolving nitrocellulose in acetone, and finally, the use of synthetic acrylic plastics dissolved in rather strong thinners. Lacquer has great shrinking properties, as it dries entirely be evaporation of the solvents used, but those solvents are almost always "penetrating", in that a succeeding coat of lacquer will tend to penetrate, at least slightly dissolve the preceding coat--and that, if the solvents are too strong, can cause crazing on the surface of styrene plastic. The modern hobby lacquers such as ModelMaster and Tamiya are made with solvents that will penetrate preceding coats, but generally won't attack styrene plastic. Acrylic Enamels are synthetic in their carrier, and generally can be used with a catalyst to speed drying. Acrylic Lacquers, as noted above, are made from synthetic materials, generally acrylic plastics, dissolved in lacquer thinner. Art

One of the biggest problems I see with those who review kits, be they on some website, in a magazine, even here on MCM Forums is a lack of knowledge about the particular kit under review! Surely, one important thing, particularly with model car kits, would be to ascertain "Is this kit a new tool, or is it a reissue of something first tooled and molded years, even decades ago?" Far too many ignore this basic step of finding out just what it is they are looking at. That said, it seems to me that it's pretty hard to be totally objective with a kit review--we all have our prejudices, our likes and dislikes, and those will "color" anything we say or write about a particular model kit subject. We here are fortunate that Model Cars Magazine has a kit reviewer who's been around the block more than a few times, is in his 50's, and has acquired some knowledge as to the background of any reissued model car kit that crosses his desk. One memory stands out here, from the introduction of the AMT/Ertl '58 Edsel Pacer HT about 12-13yrs ago: There was considerable comment on the old message boards of the time about how overly large the new kit seemed to be vis-a-vis the original 1958 release in the first year of AMT 3in1 kits. I decided to do a comparo, took my MIB AMT curbside 3in1 Customizing Kit off the shelf, laid it out next to the new AMT/Ertl kit. I was fortunate as well to have the actual dimensions of the real car in question--it took perhaps 15 minutes with calipers and calculator to find that BOTH model car bodies were the same length, width and height, and not only that, they were right on the money in that department with the REAL CAR! Not only that, both models very accurately represent the body of the actual car, so then, the only comparison would be in the engine compartment (real easy one--the original AMT kit had none!), the chassis (no brainer there) and the interior--the original kit of course came with a toy-like interior "tub", where the new kit had a full depth platform interior. And, the latter comparison brings to mind something that younger persons critiquing an old kit generally fail to understand: Those old model kits represented the "state of the art" at the time they were done, as well as the "state" of the market (age range) they were aimed at. So, to judge an old, reissued tool by modern-day standards, without noting the "heritage" if you will, of that kit, is at best disingenuous. Now, what about a model car subject tooled up by more than one company, with three decades intervening? Case in point, the AMT Trophy Series '59 El Camino vs the Revell '59 Impala. Now, both look very much like '59 Chevrolets, but there are differences, due to the difference in era's, and more importantly, the changes in the industry, and probably a fairly large generational gap between model kit pattern makers of 1963 and those around in 1993. So, necessarily, there would be differences in the interpretation of the two cars (even though they are different body styles, there is a surprisingly large amount of shared sheet metal panels between the two). Now, neither car kit had the benefit of modern technology--both kits were mastered in wood, in 1/10 scale, and then pantographed down to 1/25th scale in tooling. So much of what was done on each body shell was done by human hands, aided by human eyes, interpreted by human brains; so if there are differences, they come from from the uniqueness of all humans, that we are all different at least slightly in how we see, interpret and reproduce such as model car kits. All the above aside, I owned an all original '59 Chevrolet at the time the Revell Impala kit came out--I used parts from the El Camino and the roof panel from a JoHan '59 Cadillac 6-window sedan to master a '59 Biscayne 2dr sedan--and in judging the Revell body shell and details against my all original car (trust me, the sheet metal panels are IDENTICAL between the 2dr sedan and the Impala convertible!). the only inaccuracy in the Revell kit I found was that the taillight bezels are too large. On a real '59 Chevy, the taillight bezel is actually about a quarter-inch smaller all around than the sheet metal area/shape it attaches too--and EVERY model kit of a '59 Chevy misses that. Now, would I complain about that as a kit reviewer? Probably not, it's just not that important (1/4" in 1/25th scale is a mere 10-thousandths of an inch). Art

One of the big problems with tires for kits of Classic Era (or for that matter any antique car pre-WW2) that were engineered and tooled back say, in the 1960's is that back then, truly correct tires were almost completely unavailable on the real car market. Cars such as Duesenbergs or the larger wire wheeled Packards often were re-shot with truck tires until companies such as Denmann came on the scene, offering at least passenger car tires with albeit very incorrect tread patterns. So, in so many cases, model kits of these cars, created for the first time as they were, in the decade of the 1960's, came with miniatures of whatever tires were on the particular vehicle used for reference. Monogram's Duesenberg kits were tooled with Denmann style tires, which tires carried over to the Rolls Phantom II, and ultimately the Packard series of kits; the '41 Lincoln also got Denmann's from all appearances, as did the Cord 812, while their Bugatti Type 35B did get Dunlops (I suspect the real car was originally fitted with Michelin's). Were these cars being engineered and tooled today, it would be fairly easy to access correct reproduction tires, given the existence of companies such as Coker Tire Company in Tennessee, who have tire molds for a great many tires of the "Horseless Carriage" years out to the 1960's, even 1970's. I suspect that the same is true in Europe, given that pics of European and British classics abound showing them to have period correct tires once again. Probably the only way we will get tires that are truly correct for Classic Car kits will be if some resin caster steps up to the plate, masters correct tires, casts them, offers them for sale. Art

Considering that Monogram pretty much did a roof to slap on the Cabriolet, and did that nearly what, 10 years after the Cabriolet, I am not at all surprised. Art

I believe though, that it was not unusual for the original buyers of cars such as these to have "extra" finishing work done on them, perhaps not at the factory, but by the sales branch with whom they dealt. In the case of Bugatti, "damascening" or engine-turning of engine blocks, cylinder heads, aluminum firewalls was almost standard factory practice though, it it was not an uncommon thing. Art

Scott, To begin with, the "number" used in the model name callout on those cars refers to the engine displacement. This concept of fast (or fast looking!) touring cars from Mercedes Benz started, I believe with the 380K (3.8 liter), an example of which lived here in Lafayette for a number of years in the 1950's and 60's, almost exactly the same styling and coachwork as the first Classic Car kit from Italeri--their 500K Cabriolet (which can be more accurately described as a convertible phaeton or convertible victoria, due to its having a rear seat). About 1935, M-B came out with a considerably larger straight 8, that being the 500K, and within a year or so, the even larger 540K. Now, the styling was anything but "fixed"--rather, on these cars, given their low production numbers, the rolling chassis was constructed at Stuttgart, with M-B supplying the "identifiers" such as radiator shell, perhaps fenders (or perhaps only dictating the styling cues there), dashboards and instrumentation (just as with other "top end" classic-era carmakers of the likes of say, Duesenberg, Rolls Royce, Minerva, Marmon, Hispano-Suiza, even Bugatti.). The bodywork (coachwork) on those swoopy, powerful M-B roadsters, coupes and cabriolets was done largely by known coachbuilders trusted by Mercedes Benz to produce finished cars that enhanced their marque. So, it's not at all surprising that there were variations, although I do believe that there were some of these cars built, in different years, with identical lines, the only differences being their engines. Addtionally, the individual coachbuilders generally had their own in-house stylist or stylists, so naturally, there was some evolution of lines and shapes. But in any event, only a couple hundred of those cars were built, 1935-39. Art

Ian, to be fair here: The old Pyro Classic car kits were tooled in the very earliest days of plastic model car kits--first released in 1954-55. In that era, model cars were perhaps best regarded as little more than toys, for young hands (even the promotional models of the time weren't the best for accuracy either). Couple that with industrial pattern makers who, while well versed in their craft, weren't necessarily miniaturists in the sense of those whose work we often see today. In addition, Pyro wasn't started as a plastic model company, but rather a manufacturer of pyrometers (temperature measuring instruments for manufacturers and the restaurant industry., so plastic model kits were a new thing for them as well. But, for perhaps 8-10 years or so, their model kits stood the test, actually sold pretty well, before the more sophisticated multi-slide core molds came about to produce one piece body shells and the like (yeah, multi-slide mold tooling was out there--one piece promo and diecast tooling was being done of course, but still I suspect a "black art" for most injection molders. Had the interest in Classic Era cars taken off back in the 60's, and stayed up there on a high plane, I have no doubt that there would have been even better, more sophisticated kits of these cars than actually came about--witness what progress has been made in other areas of model cars in the past 50+ years. Art

Since this thread/lists includes cars of the Classic Era that aren't considered "Classics" by the definitions used by Classic Car Club of America, it's fair to include, I think, some more cars: Monogram 3 1930 Model A Fords: Deluxe Coupe, Cabriolet (these two shared most body components, as did the actual cars) and a Standard Phaeton. In addition, Monogram's 1930 Model A Ford Station Wagon, while issued only in street rod form, can be combined with the coupe chassis, fenders and chrome parts to make a stock Woody Wagon (in addition, at least one reissue has parts to blank off the rear quarter windows and the window opening in the tailgate to do the very rare Deluxe Sedan Delivery, which was produced from wooden station wagon bodies. Addtionally, Monogram also produced the most accurately done 1934 Ford Deluxe Coupe and the 1936 Ford 3-window coupe, in stock form when these two were first produced back in the middle 1960's. Heller also produced a pair of early post-WW-II Mercedes-Benz 170's, a 4dr sedan and a sedan delivery, both of which kits came out in the late 1970's, but quickly became unobtainium for nearly 20yrs, finally reissued in the past 7-8 years. The 170 had its beginning in 1935, but as a 4-cylinder budget priced car, it never quite achieved Classic status. Also, we ought not to forget that Lindberg kitted a pair of really Classic cars: 1928 Mercedes SSK, and a Bugatti Type 41 Royale, the convertible victoria that resides at the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn MI. Wills (later Southeast) Finecast in the UK produced a Mercedes SSKL Roadster (the version with the huge "Swiss Cheese" holes in the frame rails), and a Jaguar SS-100, both these cars in full white metal kits, 1/24 scale. SE Finecast also produced a prewar vintage MG K3 Magnette and the legendary 3-wheel Morgan, also both in 1/24 scale. Art